High earner - best way to amend child maintenance?

I got divorced in 2005 and we had a Consent Order that included arrangements for child maintenance for my son who is now 9.

I now feel that what was put in place was unfair and overly generous and I would like to revisit it.

I am paying 15% of my entire income (salary, bonus, share options) each year and I am in the fortunate position that this is well above the maximum for the CSA. I also pay private school fees for my son who also comes to stay with me Friday - Sunday most weeks. The consent order also commits me to supporting my son through Higher Education.

I understand that I could apply to the CSA who could open a case which would nullify the consent order and then they would make a ruling up to the amount within their scope and then my ex wife would apply for a top up agreement.

I am seeking an outcome where I continue to pay for my son's education and provide a reasonable amount for living expenses for my son but stop paying excess amounts above that.

Should I pursue this privately through my solicitor and the courts or start with the CSA and what are my chances of success?

Many thanks for all advice.

A good starting point would be negotiation through solicitors. If agreement can be reached a variation can be documented with a consent order or deed. There seems little point in involving both the CSA and the courts, particularly as the CSA historically aren't noted for their efficiency.

If your paying over the csa maximum it would seem to make sense to put the application through them at the earliest point, and perhaps in parallel negotiate - the csa app could always be subsequently withdrawn and might in itself concentrate minds.

My ex says he will go self employed any time so the CSA can't touch him apparently. I don't know if that's true. I didn't know the CSA had a maximum. I thought it was just a set figure of 15% for one child

The CSA has a cap of assessing income up to £2k a week although that is soon to raise to £3k. If a payer of CM earns £3k gross or less any potential saving made between now and then might be wiped out by legal costs.

It's fairly common for arrangements for higher earners to pay CM to be done through the courts. One of the reasons I suggested negotiating through lawyers is that the exact terms of order are important. For example, if there is a big discrepancy between the parties' incomes and there is substantive spouse maintenance the order may be worded that a global amount is paid for benefit of the family as a whole minus any amount paid through the CSA. When this is the case there is no point applying to the CSA because as CM goes down SM goes up £4£. Alternatively a change of circumstance such as an increase in the payer's income, the payer cohabiting or a reduction to CM might mean the recipient applies for an upward variation to SM.

As an example of what I meant by the inefficiency of the CSA in our case they restarted deducting CM from my ex's salary by error. Our son was twenty one and for a few months my ex ended up paying twice until the matter was resolved. Another common mistake was CSA staff giving out information that no assessment could be carried out unless the PWC cooperated. Perhaps this doesn't happen these days but the CSA have more powers to apply sanctions. At least with the courts both sides have the opportunity to be heard before sanctions are applied.